Electronic mail, which is also known as “e-mail,” is the transmission of messages over communication networks, such as the Internet. E-mail messages can take the form of notes that are entered into a computer using a keyboard. They can also take the form of attachments to messages.
It is well known that e-mail has many advantages over other forms of communication. E-mail is much less expensive than mail service provided by the U.S. Postal Service (U.S.P.S.). Unlike the U.S.P.S. mail delivery, e-mail is delivered almost instantaneously. When an e-mail message cannot be delivered, an error notification is also received almost instantaneously. Direct solicitations by telemarketing is slow and expensive. Because commercial messages via e-mail are inexpensive to both create and deliver, and because they are delivered almost instantaneously, e-mail is quickly become a marketing tool of choice for many companies.
Unfortunately, the advantages of commercial message transmission by e-mail have caused such messages to overload networks that deliver them. Many Internet service providers claim that unsolicited commercial messages, which are known as “spam” account for most of the e-mail messages they deliver.
SPAM® is a registered trademark of Hormel Foods, Corporation. For years, SPAM® has been used to identify Hormel's deviled luncheon meat spread. Perhaps unfortunately for Hormel, the word “spam” is now also being widely used to refer to unsolicited commercial e-mail messages sent to recipients who have not indicated a willingness to receive such unsolicited email messages from the sender. Spam now taxes the capabilities of many Internet service providers and is widely considered to be an annoyance by Internet users. Legislation to prohibit spam might not be far off.
Many entities that send commercial messages by e-mail have begun to attempt to control unwanted e-mail message transmissions. Because many e-mail advertisers use e-mail lists that are provided by mass mailers, filtering e-mail address lists of an e-mail mass mailer to control spam is problematic because e-mail mass mailers are reluctant to turn over trade secrets embodied in e-mail address lists. Consequently, controlling the transmission of unwanted e-mail distributed by third-party service providers is inhibited by trade secret concerns. A method and apparatus by which e-mail address lists could be filtered to remove addressees who do not want to receive unwanted e-mail messages would be an improvement over the prior art.